Inorganic media for Nepenthes

[David]

I had a good discussion with Dr. Charles Clarke 2 days ago and he suggested that we experiment and try out inorganic materials as media for Nepenthes.

This is becuase when we use sphagnum moss or sphagnum peat, we are contributing to its depletion in the wild. The dried sphagnum moss and sphagnum peat we buy for our "pets" are harvested from their natural habitat in bogs and swamps. Sphagnum moss and sphagnum peat plays a very important part in the ecology of bogs and swamps where CPs grow. As such when too much is harvested, it does affect other life forms there.

I would like to organise an experiment here for members to try out inorganic materials to grow their Nepenthes. Please post your results in this thread. If you are already using inorganic materials succesfully, do post here and let us know as well.

Dr. Charles suggest a mix from the following materials below. These are recommended because they do not breakdown. Some like the clay pellets might be expensive but in the long run we would save money and help conserve sphagnum moss and peat in their natural environment. Also Dr. Charles said that for Nepenthes to grow well, the roots needs alot of air. Unlike sphagnum moss, coconut peat or even flora foam, these materials below will not breakdown or compress over time.

Mix the following media together:
- clay pellets (mix large and small sizes)
- Polysterine (broken into small pieces)

This is a very airy media and we will need to do some adjustments to the pot or our cultivation routine. Perhaps have a water saucer at the bottom that is constantly filled with water. Lets us know what works and what does not.

Please post here if you would like to try this. I hope each person can try on differnet species so we will know later which species is best suited for this media or for different species what additional things we need to do so they will grow well in this. Copy, add your name and species you will be trying this out in the list below and paste in your post:

N. sp. viking - David

[kentosaurs]

Hi David.......Very interesting.....Though i've never heard of clay pellets.....I'm not sure if it'll work but we'll never now till we try...Why not try putting the plant in a mix of moss and the other 2 medium but much less moss first? Perlites inorganic right? I need to wait for my cuttings to root in order to try this..

[NepNut]

That's why I moved away from using SM and PM as the main ingredient of my nep media a while ago. I now use a large proportion of inorganic media (up to 50%-70%, some up to 100% depending on species) and organic media which consist of coco chips and coco peats. I highly recommend the use of coco media since it's environmental friendly (a by product) and it's dirt cheap.

95% of the neps in my growlist were potted with the mix I mentioned above.

[Boris]

I read in an orchid forum of zeolite. "Zeolites are microporous crystalline solids with well-defined structures." Did anyone tried already as media. It is also used for aquaristic filtering media.

[hongrui]

David, can you take some pictures of the clay pallets for us to see?

i'm currently trying out a mix of charcoal chips/pine bark/LFS. wanted to skip the LFS initially but is afraid that the plants may dry out. Test plants are N. madagascarensis and N. northiana.

[alcran]

How about sponge? Holds water and can be cut into needed sizes.

[kentosaurs]

I couldn't resist trying it out sooooo i went out repotted 2 among my uncountable amount of viking seedlings and repotted them in pure perlite and also baged them up to keep humidty...If cuttings strike in pure perlite why not actually even grow them in it...But this might not work even if it can actually grow in perlite cos of the repotting stress...I took all LFS away from the root so its barerooted..

[David]

hongrui, here's a picture of the clay pellets I got from the internet.


alcran, I think using sponge as part of the mix would be a good idea. It would retain water so that the polysterine and clay pellets mix is not too dry.

Boris, I just googled zeolites. Kinda interesting material. Is it a mineral of some sort? Not sure where to find it where I am.

cpnut, using coconut peat and coconut chips is a good alternative from s.moss and I have heard good things about it for Neps. My truncatas are grown in this and they thrive since I did the change. But I have a problem with this media as it decompose very quickly. For the purpose of this exercise, I hope we can find inorganic materials that does not decompose and would hold it's shape over time so that we can save cost in the long run and at the same time help conserve the natural habitat of sphagnum moss.

Ken, do let us know the results of your pure perlite mix.

So who else will be trying this out with the follwoing materials?

- clay pellets
- polysterine (broken into small pieces)
- sponge

Other materials:
- zeolites
- perlite

[delphiguy]

I have had great success with diatomite for my orchids, as well as the LECA
(clay pellets). Diatomite might be a good alternative as it can hold 150% of
its weight in water. To bad I dont have any neps that I can afford to try it
on at the moment.

[David]

Originally Posted by delphiguy

I have had great success with diatomite for my orchids, as well as the LECA (clay pellets). Diatomite might be a good alternative as it can hold 150% of its weight in water. To bad I dont have any neps that I can afford to try it on at the moment.

According to Wikipedia Diatomite is a naturally occurring, soft, chalk-like sedimentary rock that is easily crumbled into fine powder. The typical chemical composition of diatomaceous earth is 86% silica, 5% sodium, 3% magnesium and 2% iron. Diatomaceous earth consists of fossilized remains of diatoms, a type of hard-shelled algae.

Not sure if this will be good as it crumbles easily. The media will be compressed over time and we need to transplant again. Wonder if the magnesium, iron and sodium might harm Neps or not.